April 13^th, 2018

It’s not often that a London–New Jersey tilt could be described as irrelevant, and today’s game, which features Hiroyuki Nii (one of the PEBA’s ten most valuable players) trying to complete the sweep of the team that has won the IL Pan-Atlantic division three out of the last four years, would not seem to fit that bill either. Yet London fans are calling today’s game, irrelevant, or at best an appetizer for the main event this weekend. That’s when Titans Clash, when the current big two in the Imperial League go head-to-head at Wembley Stadium for early-season bragging rights. The fans will be out in force as the Charleston Statesmen roll into Europe in an attempt to end London’s 13-game win streak.

Batters will be running for the hills when the two deadly pitching staffs go to work. We might only be entering the third week of 2018, but already these two staffs have struck out 275 batters. The bleacher crews better have a good stock of ‘K’s available for display! Thus, when the Charleston 12-5 machine rolls in to face the London 13-2 battering ram (not including Thursday’s results), something has got to give. The big, not-so-secret weapon could be the Underground bats, which the Statesmen will, of course, try to saw off. Them London bats are hot, they’ll fight fire with fire, as they currently top the PEBA Power Rankings. Their 21 homers rank third in the IL, their 61 EBH first in the IL and their 97 runs also rank first in the IL.  But the Statesmen, whose 12 home runs allowed rand first in the IL, are more than London’s match. And don’t forget that the collective ERA (1.90) and total strikeouts (144) of Charleston hurlers both rank first in the IL. Sparks will fly!

First up on Friday will be RHP C. Hurst against RHP L. Carver. 22-year-old Hurst went 9-10, 2.93 ERA in his rookie season last year and this year is off to a 2-1, 2.42 ERA start with an 18/5 K/BB ratio, having given up just six runs in 22.1 IP. 22-year-old Carver went 11-14 with a 3.45 ERA in his rookie season and has been showing signs of dominance this season, starting off 2-1, with a 2.18 ERA and a 23/2 K/BB ratio, having allowed just five earned runs in 20.2 IP.

Saturday’s matchup features LHP J. Patino against RHP M. Rosa. The 24-year-old José Patino has posted a 14-25 record over his first two years in Charleston with an ERA firmly in the 4’s. This year he sports a 1-0 record, with a 1.33 ERA start and a 30/4 K/BB ratio. He has allowed only three earned runs in 20.1 IP (two of those reaching the plate via home runs). His counterpart, the wiley 30-year-old veteran Miguel Rosa, is 54-64 with an ERA just under 4 in six prior seasons with London. This year’s he’s posted a 3-0 record, with a 2.01 ERA. In three starts, Rosa has acheived a stellar 21/1 K/BB ratio and has allowed just five runs over 22.1 innings pitched (with three of those runs coming via home runs).

The final game of the series on Sunday matches up RHP E. Johnson and LHP Á. Luján. 25-year-old Johnson posted a 6-6 record, with a 3.69 ERA in 16 starts during his 2017 rookie season. So far this season he sports a 2-1 record, with a 1.64 ERA and a 20/8 K/BB ratio. Johnson has allowed four runs over his 22 innings pitched. 25-year-old Ángel Luján missed six months with shoulder inflammation after posting an 8-7 record, 3.90 ERA in 25 starts in 2017. This year he has come back on fire, going 3-0, with a 1.66 ERA and a 29/3 K/BB in the early going. He has allowed just four earned runs over his 21.2 innings pitched.

With the exception of Miguel Rosa, each of this weekend’s starters are young and talented hurlers. Some of these pitchers are undoubtedly performing above expectations. Will this be the series that sees some of them crash back to earth? Who will win in the battle of teams that features the top power ranked team against the team allowing the fewest home runs in the IL? One factor to watch in this series is GM Laverick’s bold move to move Decheng Wen from the DH role to first base, a position he last played (for 42 games) in 2016. In addition, Joe Buchanan is headed back to Worcester, while Dan Truax has been activated from the disabled list. He’ll occupy the fourth outfielder role, while rookie Lorenzo Valenzuela slides into the DH role. It’s a brave move with Lorenzo having just five AB’s off the bench this year to go with his 27 last September. He owns a career .188 average in the PEBA but the Underground management believe he’s primed for a breakout. He’ll have to do so, however, against the most stingiest pitchers in the IL.